Hi all! I've been working on this Contra style shooter for what feels like forever now, and it's still under construction, but is very playable with a joystick!

Screenshots:

Title:Continue? Philly Under Fire

Description:Based on the web show "Continue?" play as Paul, Nick, or Josh in this 8-bit Contra style shooter! Blast the shit out of a ton of bosses in 3 levels of run and gun action to save Philadelphia from annihilation!

State of the game:The game is being worked on, but it can be played all the way through. Here's an abridged list of things still being worked on:

1) Joystick support is working in 1P mode, but there is no keyboard support yet!2) 2P mode is not functional3) "Dom Mode" is not yet functional4) Powerup drop capsules are sparse in level 25) Online highscore submission is disabled

About the show:Here's a link to a recent show, just to give you an idea what the show is like:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prseKlk0DmcIn a nutshell, the show stars 3 friends that sit on a couch and play a retro game, and at the end will give it a thumbs up (or Continue) or a thumbs down (Game Over). It isn't really a review or "let's play" show however, it's more just 3 guys goofing off and making jokes while playing games in a improv kind of style.

Feedback:At this point, we're still focused on making sure all the mini-boss and main-boss fights are fun and that the level design is solid. Here's a very brief breakdown of what I feel is working and what isn't. Any feedback, disagreements, and recommendations are more than welcome!

Level 1:The big challenge in this first level is teaching the player what to do in the last section of the level. I'd go into further detail, but I don't want to skew how you react to it Let me know what issues you run into The bosses are listed in the order they appear.

Level 1 Bosses:1) Drill Worm: I'm happy with this one, he's basic, but he's supposed to be.2) Blade Beatle: I think this one is fine, I might rework it's sprite art.3) Eyeball Boss: This one seems fine too, it's a bit long for a first boss, but that's part of the identity of the game.

Level 2:Overall it's not bad, but it could be better. I feel like it goes for too long, but I've already cut it down quite a bit! Looking to see what areas drag the most.

Level 2 Bosses:1) Robo Fish: This one might be too tough, but otherwise is solid.2) Alien Wizard: I like this one, but it feels that the pattern might be too unforgiving.3) Robot eye: This just goes on for too long, looking to distill it in some way.

Level 3:I feel that level 3 is solid, but the area before the snail boss might be too tough.

Level 3 Bosses:1) Ceiling monster: I feel like this one works fine, let me know if you think otherwise.2) Snail boss: I'm happy with this one for the most part.3) Triple Gauntlet: I'll be the first to admit it's totally insane, but that's sort of intentional

Wrap up:This game has been quite a lot of work! With some of your feedback and guidance, I think we can get this thing to be something really special for the show! Thanks for taking the time to read all this, and thanks for playing!

Heya Forstride! That's awesome that you're a fan of the show! Me too! I'd love to get your feedback on making it true to the show (particularly the writing).

I've talked with the guys and they will be playing this on the show once it's done! So some of the choices made (like controllers and the games length) is based on the needs of the show. What's funny is that they can't really play it now, since it can't be "spoiled" for the show.

The game will be free, and support online highscores, but it still isn't clear when exactly is will be launched yet! We're still working on getting some specific feedback from people regarding the difficulty and balance of the 1 player experience, and then we'll move onto getting 2P up and running

I got my ass totally kicked during the later part of level 1 with the water that inexplicably prevents you from jumping. There doesn't seem to be any reason why, arbitrary player restrictions like that in an action game doesn't make much sense to me. And those jets just fly up and drop shit on you before you can even get out of the way.

True enough - as contra was one of those NES games that was truly HARD! It was unforgiving had some neat little glitches here and there and never once held your hand through any of it.

I think though, that game is more about having fun blasting things with some other ideas thrown into the mix. For an indie game its a really good attempt at making game that combines elements from lots of other games into one package.

Considering its 70% complete there is always room for change and im sure that Lazy Brain will look at this and make changes so its not such a difficult area.

I thought it was kinda neat to add something a bit different - but like I said im sure it will be looked at as they want feedback from us!

"Level 1:The big challenge in this first level is teaching the player what to do in the last section of the level. I'd go into further detail, but I don't want to skew how you react to it. Let me know what issues you run into."

So, basically it wasn't working for you! I'll be sure to put jumping back in (it doesn't impact anything one way or another) and see what other kinds of hints I can give the player to duck to avoid danger

Thanks for taking the time offer your feedback Udderdude!

[EDIT]Uploaded a new build (RC_18) and now the player can jump in water. Also added more ducks, not sure if that's the fix, but it might be a step in the right direction.

I uploaded a new build (RC_19) and tried a different approach to inform the player about ducking in level 1 by using a character from the show to simply tell the player to duck. Crossing my fingers that this does the trick

Great game! I love continue? and I love what you have going on here. It still needs some fine tuning but you're on the right track, keep up the good work. As far as the ducking bit in level one goes, I was confused as to why the game wanted me duck, but then realized it's use later to avoid the searchlights. Even then it felt somewhat unfair at that part, I think I was respawning over the light and getting caught again right after dying. I found it was easier to just run straight through and avoid the bullets rather than using the ducking strategy the game was trying to inform me of. Also on level 1 I fell into a pitfall and then respawned on the ledge I was trying to jump to, it was great for me but I kinda felt like I was getting a handout, I should have been placed on the ledge I was originally on. I'd leave more feedback but I never got past the mech spider boss on level 1.

New build uploaded that should take care of the back end crash (online highscore submissions are just disabled until we sort it out). Also got some weapons in the other levels, the player is still a bit under-equipped in level 2 but we'll get more in there soon

@TNERBGood catch on the "spotlight spawning" bug! It's been fixed, although that isn't reflected in this latest build The idea is to have the player duck under the firebombs as well in the water area, so I'll still have to work on it. As for the "handout" respawn, I think that might of been a symptom of having the camera pulled far enough away from the ledge that the player couldn't be there anymore, I'll see what can be done

So, for the mech spider boss, was there anything in particular tripping you up or was it just a general difficulty kind of thing?

I'm thinking it was more a difficulty thing, it felt fair when I died, I grabbed the grenade launcher and wasn't sure how to use it properly. I did like the boss though he felt big and bad I'm assuming he was the last boss of the stage. I'll likely give it another go again soon see if I can pass him up. Have the continue? gang seen this project? When ever they do I'm sure they'd be thrilled.

Good point on the grenades, I might swap it out for something else so that the player can develop a better understanding of them in level 2. I've talked with Continue, they'll be playing it on the show when it's done! :D